The Church Was a Transitional Stage Between Ancient Israel and the Kingdom of God

God used the church (that is, the one that existed in New Testament days) as a bridge between ancient Israel and the kingdom of God. It was therefore a temporary ordering of things, just as the Feast of Booths had foreshadowed – and just as the time Noah and his family spent on the ark was a temporary ordering of things.

From the beginning, God had been planning to administer a redeemed creation (that is, redeemed from the sin that had marred it) through the kingdom of God. The New Testament church was the last stage of preparation for that kingdom and therefore did not need to last long.

This explains why today’s churches have to write by-laws for themselves when, by contrast, ancient Israel had theirs provided by God through Moses.

If the church was God’s vehicle for today, there would only be one church instead of the myriad denominations we have. A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand, and God’s kingdom is certainly not divided against itself.